Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The Union Comes For Dean

SF Weekly
reporter John Geluardi, who once toiled alongside yours truly at a newspaper too unspeakable to name, has
an awesome story this week
about a big push to unionize several major Bay Area newspapers that were recently acquired by Sith Lord Dean Singleton (right).

The national Newspaper Guild is funding a $500,000 organizing campaign, which Hall has wryly dubbed "One Big BANG: A One-Guild Universe." This at once evokes the 19th-century trade unionists' One Big Union concept and pokes fun at the East Bay branch of the Bay Area News Group (that's right, BANG for short), a cluster of 11 newspapers of which the
Contra Costa Times
is part.

Newspaper unions across the country are closely watching how the One Big BANG campaign plays out, because its success or failure could signal a critical turning point for organized labor in a newspaper industry wracked by dwindling readership, declining revenues, and decimated newsrooms.
Darth Singleton's dominion also includes several local properties, including the
Times-Standard
, the
Humboldt Beacon
, the
Redwood Times
and the
Tri-City Weekly
.